A Painful Halloween

The evening dark and foggy as the children in their guises with Mums and Dads in tow; collecting trick or treat surprises. My porch, festooned with spiders, ghosts and ugly-looking gore, signalled that I’d welcome them if they knocked at my door. I watched them move along my street, in groups of two’s and threes, their lanterns lighting up the darkened branches of the trees. Barking dogs and screeching cats, bemused at all the noise, continued to berate these oddly scary girls and boys. Stooping down to check that I had my supply of sweets, I shivered as a gust of wind blew right along my street. Catching me off guard, the bowl of sweeties overturned and knocked a candle over, whereupon my hands were burned. Not thinking of the consequences, I let out a yell - just as a mini monster raised his hand to ring my bell. And though not known for swearing, nonetheless I hurled a curse, tearing clear throughout the sky - and mini monster dropped his purse. The raucous discord, mini-monster, me, the dogs, the cats, did not quite wake the dead ( but several witches lost their hats ) The flaming contents of my porch was tossed into the air, but the children saw this only as a vain attempt to scare. The parents, standing some way back, delighting at this sight, could not see through the fog that my front porch was well alight. As the monsters and the witches threw their arms up to the stars, the Mums and Dads just clapped and chirped up with their ‘Oohs’ and ‘Aahs’ I grabbed a blanket, managing to kill the growing flames, but the smoke cloud brought a new dimension to their creepy games. My face now blackened, arms aloft and clearly in pain, I must have looked horrendous - as the parents clapped again. The kids, unfazed, picked up the smouldering treats and bagged them all and through their plastic teeth declared: I was the scariest of all!